The Farm Viability Series

Do you know what’s making money on your farm? Are you thinking about trying a new marketing strategy or crop? Are you asking yourself if you can run a direct-to-consumer, sustainable farm – and be financially viable? FarmStart’s Farm Viability Series will allow you to dig deep into financial tools for evaluating your current or future farm business.

The Farm Viability Workshops will be made up of 3×4-hour sessions over the fall and winter 2015-16 and will be offered in Chatham-Kent and Guelph. A series of webinars will accompany the in-person sessions so farmers and future farmers can access financial management learning across the country. The Workshops will focus primarily on: costs of production, cash flow budgets, profit/loss and equity statements.

You will have the opportunity to see sample numbers as well as use your own, if you are currently farming. If you are planning your business, you can use our templates to build and evaluate your projected numbers. The detailed look at navigating financial statements will help beginner and experienced farm managers hone their skills.

The Farm Viability Series will provide the resources and tools to make even better business decisions before another season hurries by.

Land Access Testimonials: Farm Viability Webinar Mini-Series

Looking for creative ways to get farming? Is land the last big piece? Explore different models of land access and ask all your questions as four successful farmers from across Canada recount their “land testimonials”. These sessions will be useful for farmers seeking land, farmland owners seeking farmers, and those interested in new farmer and land use policy.

Cost: $25 per session or $80 for the series of 4.

Series registration deadline is Monday February 15th.

Please inquire if you are an organisation wishing to access the webinars for a group or for your members.

Blake and Angela Hall run Prairie Gold Meats outside Red Deer, AB, on rented land and are involved in an inter-generational succession plan to continue stewarding the land after the current owners retire. Holistic Management has helped Blake build the relationships necessary to access secure land tenure.To register: store.farmstart.ca

Cammie Harbottle –Establishing and Farming On a Community Land TrustWeds Feb 24that 1pm EST

Cammie Harbottle and a group of friends started the Tatamagouche Community Land Trust on Waldegrave Farm in NS with a vision of land as a common good and in order to decrease the cost of accessing land and housing. Now Cammie runs her farm business on land leased from the Trust.To register: store.farmstart.ca

Genevieve Grossenbacher and Jim Thompson’s Our Little Farm started in 2010 on an incubator farm just outside Gatineau, QC. They searched for the right model to buy land of their own, investigating cooperatives and the condominium act. This year, their search concluded with a farm purchase financed by the QC program FIRA (Fonds d’investissement de la relève agricole).To register: store.farmstart.ca

Jordan Marr—Farming On Your Own Private Incubator Farm (or: leasing land on an established farm operation)Weds Mar 9th at 7pm EST

Jordan Marr and Vanessa Samur found their current farm lease after a cross-Canada search for opportunities. They settled at The Homestead Organic Farm in Peachland, BC, where retirement-age farmers Joe and Jess Klein were happy to make room for them in exchange for a bit of paid labour, and for the security and peace of mind that came with welcoming some new, younger, full-time residents to the property. Quite by accident, the arrangement has functioned much like a private version of the incubator farm concept. Five years into his successful veggie operation on the property, Jordan will discuss the initial land search, the structure of the arrangement, and reflect on what’s required to maintain good relationships with landlords who live where you farm.To register: store.farmstart.ca